Project 2.1: Vaccines and Antivirals for Arenaviruses Arenaviruses are rodent-borne pathogens that cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans. Pathogenic arenaviruses include Lassa (LASV), lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV), Junin (JUNV), Machupo (MACV), Guanarito (GTOV), Sabia (SABV) and Whitewater Arroyo (WWAV) viruses. Following human infection with the Old World arenaviruses LCMV or LASV, cellular immunity plays a pivotal role in viral clearance and protective immunity. Therefore, it is important that sensitive reagents to measure the cellmediated immune response in the context of human infection or in response to vaccine candidates are developed. The identification of HLA-restricted epitopes is required to develop assays that can be used to determine the quality of immune responses, define correlates of protection and immunopathology, and ultimately guide the selection of candidate vaccines.